The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-12-11
THE COUNCILOF CHURCHMEN
A Very Readable Sketch of the Recent
Conference at the National Capital.
Repres entative Character of the AssembIage
The Great Ability of the Speakers and
Importance Of Topics Discussed.
of the IndianaDoli. Journal.

WASHINGTON, d. c., Dec. 9-The impression
dsepened as the conference proceeded that it
was, in all respects, one of the most important
| religious gatherings of the decade. No evangel-
ical church without its represent atives and
all of the churches sent some of their ablest
On the platform bishops claiming apostolic sue
cassion jostled bishops whom they would not
admit to be such. and men of other denomina-
tions fully as worthy of the episcopate any to
whom this high dignity attached. while on the
floor were to be seen at all times, full thou
sand Of the very flower Of all the ecclesiastical
circles IN the Nation. One could tell at glance
that it twas body Astounding in distinguished
men, for whatever there may be, may not he,
| in name. there Is surely great deal in looks.
and if the clerical garb was not conspicuous
as one might have expected. 1t easy to dis
cover in the features of the delegates both their
high calling and their exalted intellectual and
moral character.
The papers and speeches were inevitably o.
the first order of merit. Each spoke upon his
pet theme, and nearly all who took part were
men Of national repute Candor cou1p els the
admission, too, that the speakers with few
ceptions, carried the interest and awakened the
enthusiasm of the great audiences. Naturally
some striking contrasts were presented. To hear
President McCosh, wrinkled, feeble and fully
ripe in both years and scholarship, but still an
intellectual giant and almost a TRANSPORTED ora
Gle, was a rare treat His theme was 1.-THE Re-
lation of the Church to Capital and Labor"
and his chief points were that the church and
the ministry must get nearer to the masses
and, as he did when in the pastorate thlrty-five
years ago. must get near to them by going
after them and preaching the gospel, Paul
like. from house to house. And if this was a
H..
vigorous manhood which followed lone OF the
very best the conference listened toy from Hon.
Seth Low. of Brooklyn, who. while taking a
hopeful view of the relations between capital
and labor still held that the church had great
duty in the premises, and was not backward
in suggestions as to how her high missions
might be fulfilled.
She must see to it, first that the capitalists
in her own fold did not Cypress the hreliug in
his wages. She must insist that the wage
workers were not SO many hands. but were liv-
ing, human beings She must teach the great
doctrine of common brotherhood. and must
take care that the mouths in her pupits were
not stopped by gags Of gold-sentiments which.
of course. brought forth round after round of
applause, though In some quarters they must
have hit pretty hard
The most delicate, and possibly. the most i'm
portant topics were THE Perils of the Family"
and ''The Social Vice." handled respectively
and with consummate skill by Rev. S. W. Dixie,
of Mas sachusetts, and by Colonel Green, of
only European nation whose birth rate was as
low that of this country, and what made our
situation worse than hers was that she was con-
cerned about this m after while were not.
The divorce rate Is double what it was twenty
years ago both in America and Europe. In en-
lightened New England 2, 900 divorces had been
granted in a single year, and nearly many
had blackened the record of the State of Ohio in
year
Mormonism it was commended, did not
threaten half the mischief that our easy divorce
laws did Touching the social vice, Colonel
Greene commended that what was done openly
by those lost to shame was but small part,
and not the vilest part either of what was
going Amongst the corrupting influences
at work upon children and youth he men
association Of the good and bad in the
public schools, the work too often begun
there being supplemental afterwards by
the novel. the sensational newspaper, the
obscenity lurking under the guise of art. the
saloon. and the loose moral code prevailing
in society. His plea was for a general support
of the White Cross movement antidote to
this social vileness in which he ably sup
ported by Dr. Thomas, eminent physician of
Baltimore. Dr. Thomas held that there
more pure men in America than in any other
nation, and that the great need was for those
believing in purity to put themselves record.
The dividing wedges OF this otherwise har-
monious conference have been temperance and
Roman Catholicism. The papers on the former
subject did not half satisfy the advanced think
on the question, and there end of
subdued muttering in some quarters. That,
however. was only what might have been antici-
pated and, in fact, it was anticipated and pro-
vided against, and by a cut-and- dried pro-
eramme which left discussion entirely at the
option of the chair and utterly shut off all reso-
buttons.
As to Catholicism, there were numerous al
lusions to that church and numerous demonstra-
tons, more or less condemnatory of her action
in certain directions the part of the audience,
from the time the conference opened, but the
first formal address the subject by
Bishop Coke of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
His theme was ultramontanism The bishop
conceded the Christian character of the masses
of both priests and people, but entered strong
protest against the allegiance of American Cath
olcs to a foreign power, and against the inter-
ference of that power with American institu-
tons.
DIR. j. NJ. King. of New York. followed in
much the same strain. conceding all that the
Bishop did, but protesting even more vigorously
than the Bishop against the government of
American citizens by Rome. Both were loudly
few terse sentences delivered with genuine
Methodist JUNCTION. he declared that the Ameri-
people would never consent to share with
Catholics the public school fund The
questions of divorce and the social evil
were under consideration. and quiet-looking
man, Prof. Simeon E. Baldwin, of New Haven,
Conn. took the platform to enter a protest, as
he said against the spirit of hostility shown in
the conference to Catholics, the fact being, he
held, that in social reform movements that
church might be made a valuable ally, and, in
fact such, as he and other workers in vari-
ous causes could attest from personal knowl-
edge
This in the nature of bomb shell in the
proceedings. Many showed unmistakable signs
of dissent from the gentleman's remarks. but a
considerable numb Der applauded the scene being
ended by a quiet. reassuring speech from
President Dodge, of the Alliance, who depre-
Gated the idea that the conference was opposed
TO the Catholic Church a church, and held
that the opposition shown was merely against
certain tendencies and demands of the commu-
nion which were held TO be un American
II. however. there were a few points of disa-
greeunent In the body. there were, to offset
these, many points in which all, obviously,
eye to eye and felt the thrill of a common emo
ton. None dissented from the proposition that
more must be done for our great cities. that
immigration ought to be brought under judi
cious control, or that wealth should be more
generally used to bless the needy. that the
church must come closer to the masses. that
the saloon was an infinite and intolerable curse,
that domestic and personal purity too
uncommon, or that the capital and labor prob